The present invention relates generally to disposable plastic container of products and specifically to foldover packages having upper covers which engage lower bodies thereby providing a container for the storage of articles and other items.
Many times a variety of products are packaged in recloseable plastic containers. As these containers may contain a larger number of articles than which are typically used on a single occasion, these containers may also function as storage containers to store the articles between use. In addition, the number of articles contained may exceed several occasions of use such that the container is repeatedly reopened and then closed. Thus, the ease by which the container may be reopened becomes important in the marketing of the articles to the consumer.
One of the more typical plastic containers intended to hold merchandise has a bottom portion or base and a top lid or cover attached to the base by a hinge. Although, rectangular packages are very common, the base and cover may have a variety of configurations including polygonal, round, oblong etc. To hold the cover to the base when the cover is closed, it is very common to provide some means for interlocking the cover and base. For example, a snap fit interlock may be provided. These interlocking structures hold the cover and base together during normal handling, but allow the cover and base to be parted when sufficient force pulling them apart is exerted.
For many containers having a interlock such as a snap-fit closure, it may be difficult or inconvenient for the user to reopen the container by grabbing the two halves and pulling them apart. For example, the base and cover may not be formed so as to be readily grasped by the hands of the user; the base and cover may be too large, too small, too slippery or in a shape that is difficult to hold. Consequently, many of the presently available recloseable containers have some feature formed on them specifically intended to aide the user in reopening the container. For example, it is common for containers to provided with flanges which extend outwardly from the peripheries of the base and cover portions. Usually, the flanges are formed so as to be adjacent to one another, but do not entirely overlap. The user may then locate those areas where the flanges do not overlap so that one flange of the cover may be grasped separately from the flange of the base. The individual flanges are then pulled away from each other to separate the cover and base. However, the locations where the flanges do not overlap may be difficult to locate, particularly when the container is formed by clear plastic.
In addition, many containers have the snap fit interlocks at several positions and due to the flexibility of the container, the non-overlapping flange portions need to be located in close proximity to the snap fit interlocks. To singularly disengage these snap fit interlocks, the non-overlapping flange portions must be individually located.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved recloseable container. A related object is to provide such a container which may be easily and repeatedly reopened.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide an improved recloseable container having a snap fit interlocking structure for releasably retaining the cover to a base of the container which facilitates the individual grasping of the cover and base to reopen the container.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved recloseable container having outwardly extending flanges on a top and base of the container and particularly adapted so that the flanges may be individually grasped to reopen the container. A related object is to provide such a container which does not solely rely on the provision of non-overlapping flange sections to allow the flanges to be individually grasped.